U.S. wire rod market: low prices linger but trending upward

U.S. wire rod market: low prices linger but trending upward

The U.S. market for imported wire rod finally bottomed out this week. Dominant suppliers from Turkish mills have been selling their productions to their home market at high prices and were not interested in the depressed U.S. prices. Even though there are clear indications that the European offers are also going up, there are still some bargain offers waiting to be picked up. Pricing for mesh quality wire rods is just under $19.00 cwt. (418.88/mt) but new offers for Turkish offers are close to $21.00 cwt. ($462.97/mt). No new orders have been seen at these new prices but it is the clearest indication that market prices are now rising. On the local production, Gerdau Ameristeel is shutting down its wire rod mill in New Jersey for maintenance in addition to the Beaumont wire rod mill which is still in the midst of a labor dispute. This is yet another indication that domestic rod sales are soft and U.S. producers are trying to avoid further price slippage by limiting the steel output. Wire rod users report local buying prices from $23.00 cwt ($507.06/mt) to $27.50 cwt. ($606.27/mt) for low carbon wire rod depending on how deals are negotiated by the buyer.